By Our Reporter
Rep Afam Victor Ogene, Leader of the Labour Party Caucus in the House of Representatives, has said that despite the unintended factual error in the motion asking the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take action concerning the concurrent validity of old and the redesigned naira notes – two years after the controversial policy was introduced – the CBN’s lack of decisiveness on the policy remains embarrassing.
He also maintained that while the mix-up or innocent omission of the Supreme Court’s subsisting pronouncement on the validity of both versions of naira notes is acknowledged, the House’s intervention, following his motion on the subject matter, was not conclusive, the essence of which the House resolution directed its Committee on Banking Regulations to interface with the apex bank and report back in 21 days.
Rep Ogene made these assertions in a statement on Friday following the clarification by the CBN that the latest Supreme Court pronouncement reversed its earlier ruling by not stating a definite date that the old N200, N500 and N1000 naira notes would cease to be valid legal tender.
The lawmaker representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency, Anambra state, had on Thursday during plenary, moved a motion on the of ‘Urgent National Importance’, titled “Need for Central Bank of Nigeria to sensitize Nigerians about the non-legal status of old Naira notes from January 1, 2025.”
The motion which referenced the earlier Supreme Court pronouncement setting the same deadline following some litigations that trailed the controversial CBN policy that threw the nation into grave difficulty and panic at the time, was passed by the House and referred to its Committee on Banking Regulations for further legislative action and report back to the House within 21 days.
But responding to the House resolution, the CBN’s statement curiously said the decision of the House was “Calculated to disrupt the country’s payment system”, and urged the people to disregard the information, quoting the latest Supreme Court pronouncement.
However, Rep Ogene queried further in his statement: “But even with the latest development, some issues remain germaine: which country in the world runs its economy with two different sets of unidentical currency notes?
“What was the intention of the CBN in introducing new sets of notes; was it not with an aim at eventually replacing the old sets?
“Now that the ‘politics’ that heralded the introduction of the new notes are long over, shall the country and its people continue to suffer the afflictions arising therefrom? For instance, it is common knowledge that some people still mistake the new N200 note for the old N10 bill. Yet, both continue to co-exist.
“Besides the issue of deadlines, who in Nigeria is not embarrassed by the stinking, dilapidated nature of currencies emanating from the vaults of our country’s commercial banks, while the CBN continues to look on, as if it is the new normal.
“Daily, citizens lose as much as between N5,000 to N10,000 for every N100,000 cashed in various banking halls, due to mutilated and torn notes.
“The CBN, as the country’s apex bank and regulator of the sector, cannot hide under the legalese of ‘deadline ad infinitum’ to shrink its responsibilities to the banking public.”